Malaysian Woman Caned For Having Extramarital Sex: 'I Deserved It'

One of three women caned in Malaysia last week for having extramarital sex has spoken about the experience.

"On the day I was caned, I was scared but, at the same time, I knew I deserved it and was willing to take the punishment," said 25-year-old 'Ayu'. "Those out there who are having sex before marriage should really consider the consequences and not only think about momentary pleasure."

'Ayu', who has a one-year-old daughter with her boyfriend, and the two other women handed themselves into authorities to face the punishment. Human rights groups have hit out against the treatment of the women, claiming they had been pressured into handing themselves in.

Each woman received between four and six strokes of a rattan cane, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced the caning earlier Wednesday. He did not release details of their identities or when they had been sentenced but said that one of the women was released last week after spending a month in prison.

Home Ministry officials did not describe where on their bodies they received the strikes, but authorities have previously said that the caning of women would be done with a thin stick on the back - not the buttocks.

The punishment for women is supposed to be largely symbolic rather than aimed at causing pain, unlike the caning of rapists and drug smugglers with a thick rattan stick on bare buttocks that causes the skin to break and leave scars.